"Sacred Bards" and "Wise Druides": Drayton and His Archetype of the Poet

Hiller, Geoffrey G.

doi:10.2307/2872801

Cited by 10 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Drayton's model was the sixth-century Welsh Taliessin, who, like other bards, in a 'sacred rage I Recorded the Descents, and acts of everie Age' (IV.115, 171-2). 66 Drayton reunited in himself the role of bard, as the defender of British history and cultural heritage, endowed with 'insights into man and nature' , 67 and that of druid, as the 'sacred' educator of his nation and its inhabitants, 68 including the future monarch. Like some of his best predecessors, admired and praised even by other bards, he would be able to 'deduce' from the 'golden times' the matter of Britain (IV.l79).…”

Section: The Reality and Symbolism Of Deforestationmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘The murmuring woods euen shuddred as with feare’: Deforestation in Michael Drayton'sPoly-Olbion

Trevisan

2011

The Seventeenth Century

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The murmuring woods euen shuddred as with feare': Deforestation in Michael Drayton's Poly-OlbionMichael Drayton devoted more space to the topic of deforestation than other poets of his time. In the fifth volume of the Hebel edition of his works we are told that 'Drayton is constantly deploring the destruction of the woods and forests, chiefly for fuel and iron-smelting', and that the topic is 'frequent' inThe claim that the theme is a frequent one seems fair, although it depends on what counts as frequency.Deforestation is mentioned in a little less than one per cent of Poly-Olbion {145 out of 14,718 lines), and less than two per cent of The Muses Elizium (forty-six out of 2,561 lines), and they are the only two poems in which Drayton deals with the issue. In Poly-Olbion, the destruction of forests is bewailed by the forests' own nymphs, 3 and because of the emotional way in which these woodland deities deprecate the rapid felling of their trees, the problem of the despoliation of forests makes a great impression on the reader; which perhaps leads to an over-estimate of the actual frequency of the laments. However, the topic itself and the context of its appearance in Drayton deserves to be analysed in depth.

show abstract

Section: The Reality and Symbolism Of Deforestationmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘The murmuring woods euen shuddred as with feare’: Deforestation in Michael Drayton'sPoly-Olbion

Trevisan

2011

The Seventeenth Century

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Redefining Elizabethan Literature

Brown

2004

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Redefining Elizabethan Literature examines the new definitions of literature and authorship that emerged in one of the most remarkable decades in English literary history, the 1590s. Georgia Brown analyses the period's obsession with shame as both a literary theme and a conscious authorial position. She explores the related obsession of this generation of authors with fragmentary and marginal forms of expression, such as the epyllion, paradoxical encomium, sonnet sequence, and complaint. Combining developments in literary theory with close readings of a wide range of Elizabethan texts, Brown casts light on the wholesale eroticisation of Elizabethan literary culture, the form and meaning of Englishness, the function of gender and sexuality in establishing literary authority, and the contexts of the works of Shakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser and Sidney. This study will be of great interest to scholars of Renaissance literature as well as cultural history and gender studies.

show abstract

Introduction

2004

Redefining Elizabethan Literature

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

"Sacred Bards" and "Wise Druides": Drayton and His Archetype of the Poet

Cited by 10 publications

References 1 publication

‘The murmuring woods euen shuddred as with feare’: Deforestation in Michael Drayton'sPoly-Olbion

‘The murmuring woods euen shuddred as with feare’: Deforestation in Michael Drayton'sPoly-Olbion

Redefining Elizabethan Literature

Introduction

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About